There's a new rule in Australian horse racing. The rule states that a jockey can only whip the horse five times before the final 200 metre mark, and after the final 200 metres, the horse can only be struck three times in consectutive strides before the rider must wait for the horse to respond. It also requires use of a new kind of whip which is slightly padded. Now, I'm not a horse-racing expert so I don't understand the rule exactly, but it seems perfectly reasonable to me.
But it's not resonable to many jockeys, apparently, and they're threatening to strike during this year's spring carnival - possibly including the Melbourne Cup(!) if the rule is not amended to allow the to whip the horses as much as the like over the final 200 metres.
Who are they kidding here? Do they expect people to actually support them? I mean, to be honest, I'm not really a "hug the seals", "save the whales" kind of guy in general, but I thought our goal (as in, humanity's goal) would be to reduce the amount of cruelty to animals that we inflict. Who could possibly be opposed to that? Horse racing isn't exactly the kindest of sports as far as the animals are concerned, but is that any reason to just say "do whatever you like"?
It's not like the rule gives unfair advantage to anybody - everybody is affected in the same way - so what possible reason could there be for wanting to whip your horse as much as you feel like at any time?
According to the article I linked above, apparently jockeys argue that the new rules "raise safety issues"... um, what safety issues? The only thing I can think of is that it might mean the jockeys are too busy thinking about how many times they've whipped the horse and they might make some kind of mistake (hitting another rider, etc). But I'm quite sure that with a bit of practise it would become second nature. It's not like racing drivers are constantly checking their tachometer to make sure they don't go over the red line (and blow the engine) when they're racing - with a bit of practise you just naturally get a feel for it and the best drivers can push their car right to the limit without ever once taking their eyes off the road.
So I say to jockeys: suck it up. Nobody is going to support a rule which says you can whip a horse as often as you like. Even if it's only for short periods.